Dinner for Four?
by ElleThom
Summary: I don't know if anyone has tried this before, R&R if youwant more. Chapter seven is here for those of you sick enough to be enjoying this one, I know I am!
1. Default Chapter

Why am I doing this

Digging my own grave

Though it's shallow

I would lie in it

Work down in the basement

In the dark

After we crashed the car

Hoping fast that my arrow

Hits the mark

So you know who we are

Brand New

She stepped into the elevator, steeling her will and reminding herself why she was doing this. She was not used to coming to this part of the Hoover building, VCU was more her cup of tea, and she liked her tea straight with a nip of gin.

The floors descended too fast, "damn it" she breathed quietly "I should have taken the stairs." The basement made her nervous, not because she had not ever been down there before, but because of Jame Gumb and his love of holes.

It was that—but also the things she had heard about that were investigated down there was a bunch of hoo-hah. Ghosts and UFO's, she had seen true ugliness, stared it in the eyes, and the one thing that she had learned—real monsters have real human faces.

The small hallway led her to her destination, she hesitated at the door, not sure whether to knock or stroll in. They weren't expecting her. She had gone to their AD; who had listened to her request, absently reminding her that this was not along the lines of their usual case load. "I understand that Sir." She answered his doubts with that clear calm voice of hers, which some at the Bureau claimed was almost robotic.

"But," he conceded, "If you need the best, then the best are in the basement.

Skinner had advised her to go on down and make their acquaintance, to field her requests to them in person. He just wanted her to get the full affect; unabridged, unannounced, undiluted was the best way to get to know Agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

"I know Special Agent Scully from Quantico Sir; we roomed together for a time. She is one of the finest Agents I have had the pleasure to get to know..."

"You won't have a problem with Agent Scully," he mused. "But, Agent Mulder is a bit unconventional."

"I am aware of his reputation Sir." She offered. "I believe the name is Spooky?" her mouth twitched slightly at this, as if trying to decide whether to smile or not.

"Yeah but I wouldn't use that name down there if I were you..."

"I understand that Sir, they do teach some classes on Protocol at Quantico.' She ruffed.

Skinner eyed the young woman, not sure what to make of her. She was tough, but on a whole different level than Agent Scully. "Ok," he began. "Good Luck, I hope they can help you." He felt the need to end the conversation with her quickly; her brusqueness was more than just a little disconcerting.

She decided to knock, entering someone's office even in the basement, warranted some of that home training Quantico had offered her.

"Nevermore?" the male voice on the other side asked.

"Excuse me?" she replied after having opened the door. The place was a mess, cases were stacked willy-nilly, cardboard boxes overstuffed in corners, and the one desk shared by the two agents was in such a state of disarray she could not imagine anyone getting any work done on it. The place was replete with a low hanging light bulb, which Special Agent Mulder banged his head on as he rose.

"Special Agent Clarice Starrling, " Mulder hummed, "to what do I owe this unexpected yet inviting pleasure?" He asked extending his hand to the young woman.

Agent Starrling had heard he was charming, and handsome, she was not the kind of woman to fawn, but Agent Mulder was more than she had expected. "Thank you Agent Mulder," she took the seat she was offered, waited patiently as he cleared it off first. "I actually came down here to ask for your help." She finished once settled into her seat.

He was not surprised, the reputation of Special Agent Clarice Starrling eclipsed even his own, she had chased after monsters, and had gotten to close to one in particular. Hannibal Lector was the only serial killer Mulder flatly refused to profile. There were some heads you could never crawl back out of, at least not without bringing the nasty pieces out with you. "I don't know if I can Agent Starrling, I was under the impression that some one had already profiled Hannibal Lector..."

"I do investigate other cases Agent Mulder, from the looks of your office I am sure you know how that goes." Her voice never left cadence, never changed rose or fell.

Ouch, he mused to himself this kitten's got claws. Everything out of that mouth was jagged, yet honey dipped with that sweet down home accent. "Ok Agent Starrling, what can I do for you?" He decided to be all business on this one; Scully could probably learn a few tips from her, mostly those involving disemboweling.

She handed him the file that she had entered with. Mulder leaned back into his chair, assuming brain mode as he placed his feet precariously on the already full desk.

"The Eater of Souls," Mulder uttered placing the file back on the desk and rubbing his hands over his stubbly face.

"Yes Sir,' she ringed.

"This one," he tapped the file, "this one is rough." He stiffened, not looking her in the face. It was a little macho for him to not admit that she had seen worse monsters than he ever had.

"Mr. Mulder," she began almost hesitantly. "I have been told that you are the best profiler in the building, possibly in the Bureau itself. Now why you choose to waste your time and God given talent down here playing Ghostbusters I will never understand. But you are a hunter Sir, and I need you to hunt.' She picked up the file and offered it to him again.

"Do you know what it takes to get into their heads Agent Starrling?" he asked

"No sir, but I know this one needs to get found. He has killed close to fourteen girls all teenagers, all A students, all from similar socio-economic backgrounds. He has worked in four different states with the bulk of them being in Connecticut." She still held the file out to Mulder.

"You have had your own run ins with Lector Agent Starrling, so I know you realize how hard it is to even be in the same room with them." He bent his head back and rubbed his eyes. "When I worked for VCU before I came down here." He made a gesture around the room. "I saw things that nightmares were made of."

"Agent Mulder," she said rising retracting the file she had been holding out. "Obviously I am wasting both of our time by being down here. I neither have the time nor the inclination to hold your hand and sweet talk you into doing this. I'll let you get back to your UFO's.' she smirked.

"Mulder, I tried to get you extra mayo but once again I think they for-" Dana Scully was struck to find Clarice Starrling in her office. "Agent Starrling," she began dropping the sub sandwiches onto the desk. In the presence of her old room mate she suddenly felt ridiculous holding them, as if she were nothing more than the basement office girl.

"Agent Scully," Clarice began, smirking at the female agent's discomfort. ""Nice to see you again Dana.' She turned and eyed Mulder.

"Agent Starrrling," Mulder had risen and come around the desk. "Leave the file; I will get back to you by end of business tomorrow with a prelim." He offered her a mile that usually worked on any woman. Special Agent Clarice Starrling was not just any woman.

After giving him the file, she made her niceties and left.

"Whew," Agent Mulder blew. "Hey Scully, remind me to call your mom and thank her."

"For what Mulder?" she asked still reeling from Agent Starrling's visit.

"Well off hand I'd start with breastfeeding," he smiled still eyeing the door which the young woman had left out of. "secondly I thought I would round off the conversation by thanking her for not potty training you at gun point."

"Agent Starrling has always had that affect on people." Scully smiled laying out the sub sandwiches.

"Man, and they call you the Ice Queen…" he stopped himself realizing he had said this out loud.

"She had been through a lot Mulder, not just Bureau induced nightmares either. I have to tell you I admire the hell out of her." She mused

"Scully, please tell me you aren't going to show up to work one day with a machete and castrate every man in the building in a show of sisterhood solidarity." He laughed.

"Mulder, you know sometimes you can be such a slug." She picked absently at her sandwich before going on. "She kind of reminds me of someone…"

"Biter your tongue woman," He stared after her. :

"I am serious Mulder, if you were female, she would be you. You're domineering, overbearing, vastly intelligent," she was going somewhere with this.

"Don't hold back Scully,' he stared. "Tell me what you really think."

"I'm just saying Mulder, she has had to fight her way in a man's world…"

"No to mention that whole thing with Dr. Lector" He added taking an over exaggerated bite of is sub sandwich.

"Mulder," she whined." That's not funny. The whole thing with Lector was not her fault. He became fixated on her." Scully had a hard time finishing her sandwich with the image of Mulder

"Yeah well you want my opinion, that goes two ways there Scully. I mean she is the only one to survive close personal contact with the man. He's in love with her."

"That doesn't mean she has returned it Mulder, I mean they have played a cat and mouse game with each other for over ten years.' She was trying to remember what started this whole conversation in the first place.

"And she hasn't caught him yet? Her heart's not in it." He stopped for a minute thinking, "or maybe it is in it too much."


	2. VooDoo

Hazing clouds rain on my head

Empty thoughts fill my ears

Find my shape by the moonlight

While my thoughts aren't so clear

Demons dreaming

Breathing breathing

I'm coming back again.

Godsmack

Clarice Starrling slammed the door to her office upon her return to the normal part of the Hoover building. Being there in the basement had left her feeling, out of control. It was a feeling she was not used to nor wanted to have a familiarity with. That office in the bowels of the building was all wrong. It wasn't the clutter, Clarice Starrling was a woman familiar with disorder, and she liked to save cleaning for when she was angry.

It was the stink of failure. That room had the words end of the line written all over it. She respected the two agents; they were good at what they did. Agent Mulder was the best profiler around, she knew he would come in handy for more than this case. These two were once at the top of the Bureau, a whole world of closed cases laid out in front of them. They could have had any assignment they chose. Mulder himself could have bagged countless rolls of degenerates and hauled them off of the streets.

And yet, there they were, chasing specters and getting paid the same scale as her. It made her sick. There were real crimes to be solved, real life monsters that needed to be prodded from underneath the beds of sleeping children. What went on downstairs was an abomination.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fox Mulder had left work early; he knew it was going to be a long night with the case file. He had stopped and picked up a six pack of Beck's and a large order of take out. Mulder liked to be alone and well fed when he worked, and Scully had respected his need for privacy while he worked.

She waved him out of the office after promising not to call him that night and to finish the paperwork on her own. What a little trooper, he smiled to himself. She was going to make some lucky bastard absolutely miserable one day.

Lord willing, he'll be the one holding the winning ticket.

He had to get her out of his mind. Scully running through his mind while he profiled some sick pervert would only amplify his already vivid dreams. He had to force his mind to steer clear of Dana Scully for the night. Breathing deeply and cracking open a fresh bottle of beer, he pulled the contents of the file out, spread them across his coffee table, and dove in.

Profiling was nothing like on television, there were no neat little flashes of images or big huge clues that stuck out for a profiler to glom onto. No, when you profiled a serial killer, you were taking every piece of evidence into consideration. What would mean something for one profile would be different with another murderer. What most people didn't know were the photos. They were awful; these sick fucks never killed anyone simply or neatly. Even the most anal retentive of serial killers, like Lector, had a habit of drawing blood in large quantities, or leaving a body so disgusting the families could not even entertain the thought of an open casket.

These pictures that invaded his mind tonight were awful. The perp had an almost ritualistic routine with his girls. He bound them, all the same way, hands in front arms stretched across their chest.

Like they were praying.

See, this is why Fox Mulder had a hard time believing in a higher power. So much gore and horror was done in the name of a god, how could he allow it to continue?

He went on, examining the care and detail that the perp took in staging the bodies after he was done with them. They were propped up kneeling. In most cases he had taken great care use implements to ensure they were in this position when discovered. Mulder made a mental note to inquire to see the boards and media that were used to proffer this morbid show.

He had gouged out their eyes. From the crime scene photos, you could barely tell, because the heads of the victims were placed in a bowing position, the head rested neatly on top of the bound hands. But the eyes weren't just gouged out, as he read in the case file; they were bound into the palms of the victim's hands. The killer had carefully removed the eyes, almost with surgical precision, and had placed them in the bound palms of the victims.

This guy enjoyed what he did entirely too much.

The girls were all dressed in prim white dresses; he didn't need to call his Catholic partner to know that these were confirmation dresses. From the looks of it as he examined them closely, they were home made, possibly hand stitched.

Ok, Mulder mused, we are looking for a homicidal maniac with a sensitive side, wonder if he watches Martha Stewart.

The last gory detail almost made him lose his extra large Mu Shu Pork. The worst part of the details the writer of the summarized case files had left for the last disgusting detail, as if to punctuate the description with the world's most disgusting exclamation point.

At first they thought the tongues had been kept by the perp. See these sickos love to have souvenirs of their crimes. It was their porn. They would later hold the object and fantasize about the crime that was attached to it. Often the next crime occurred when this no longer worked for them. One of the initial investigators even thought that the tongues were being eaten by the perp.

He was so close.

The first three victims had not been handled by anything other than local PD, and this guy was smart enough to perform the first few murders over a span of four states that were not bordering each other.

See they did autopsies, but failed to really check the stomach contents, had they done that they would have known that the victims' last meal consisted of the previous victims tongue.

That was the other thing about profiling, the other reason why he had to be alone when he started perusing through the cases. You had to separate yourself; it was one of the first things they taught at Quantico. See its human nature to look into the victim's faces and attach some familiar name to them. Every teenaged victim looked like Samantha. He had an array of fourteen different Samantha's all posed exactly the same, all missing her eyes and tongue

Mulder was not well, he got up from the couch and had a sudden need to go run to Scully's and make sure she was all right.

Make sure she still had her tongue.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dana Scully could never in a million years understand her partner. Oh she got him; she knew he had about a million little idiosyncrasies that would drive Mother Theresa to pick up a few bad habits. She also knew he had more fears than a Stephen King novel. He was irreverent, shameless in his love of porn, pushy, stubborn, and maybe a little messy.

But, God was he brilliant.

All the other crap could just be laid aside and written off as eccentric behavior. He could have thirty different secret weapon stashes on his body, it didn't matter. He could drag out a hundred different crazy paranoid fantasies, so what? He could march through the office proclaiming the queen of England had ordered the hit on JFK, and? He could find a perp and hunt, and how she loved to watch him hunt.

He always started off the hunt alone; Dana had assumed that it was to concentrate, to not have girl cooties clouding up the clubhouse so he couldn't think. Secretly, she had hoped it was to separate her from it, in her mind she fantasized that this was his little way of protecting her.

Am I in love with him? She asked herself for the billionth time. Have I broken the cardinal rule of law enforcement and fell head over heels for my partner?

Maybe its just hero worship, that photographic memory of his is a neat trick, and kind of a turn on….

Aww Damn it! She fumed. I think I am in love with the weirdo.

Dana ran the bath water and dove in.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Clarice Starrling did not expect to hear from Agent Mulder so soon, she had not wanted to either. Home was her fortress, her solitude. Work only came in when she invited it in, when work invaded from either a phone call or an email she took it personally, though it was part of her job, and she never complained, she still did not welcome FBI into her house.

"Agent Starrling." Mulder grunted into the phone.

"Yeah Agent Mulder how is it going?" She said trying to sound as casual as her nature would allow.

"I need to go over the case, can we meet?" he asked. There were things about this one that bothered him, things that were too—ritualistic.

She gave him directions to her house, and greeted him at the door. Mulder was struck at the starkness of her home. Scully's apartment was so warm and soft, Agent Mulder had assumed that Agent Starrling's home would have that same inviting nature.

Nope.

Special Agent Clarice Starrling got home decorating tips from the department of Corrections. Function definitely won out over form here, a woman after his own heart.

He waved the file in front of her as he walked into the living room and plopped onto an old sofa. "This guy is a real piece of work. "He announced.

"Yes, Sir." She agreed. "That's why I asked for your help. " She was trying her best to remember that men liked their egos stroked, hadn't it worked on even Lector? Funny how all men had a little Lector in them.

Mulder ran his hands through his hair roughly, stopping at his sys. "this guy is picking up speed." He admitted. "He is enjoying this, not just the killing, but the chase. He was careful in the beginning, which tells me he has this planned out."

"Has he gotten sloppier then?" Starrling asked.

"Not sloppier, in fact he is so careful, your buddy Lector would be im—" he stopped seeing the look on her face. Mulder wasn't sure, but he had the impression that she was going to kill him. "Sorry Agent, that was very unprofessional of me." He looked down to his feet for something to say, they weren't helping any.

If Mulder had not been studying her face, he would have missed the momentary look of broken glass that swept across her steely features. Mulder decided he would just go on. "This guy, the eye thing is done post mortem, which says there is some care for the victim. There are those out there that would do it happily while the vic is fully awake. He is saying something here. The vics are someone for him, someone he once loved and cared for, though I am not sure if it would be either family or a girlfriend." He stopped here opening the file and pointing to one of the pictures. "See here?" he asked fingering the photo. "He dresses them in conformation gowns, home made ones, that is a little story there too. He sees them as little girls; the age of the vic belies how he sees them." He stopped as if figuring something out here. "Maybe a little sister, or someone he knew as very young. "

She was impressed, more than just impressed. He had reached into this case and dragged the sick fuck out kicking and screaming. Clarice had the feeling he was close here, real close.

"This is one sick fuck," he mumbled.

"Is that the technical term sir?" she asked and Mulder caught a faint grin trace across her face.

"I'm sorry to come out here like this so late Agent Starrling; I had to give you the preliminary tonight." He halted "I had to get some of it out of my head."

"S'ok Agent Mulder, I have insomnia anyway, I usually don't sleep more than a few hours a night."

Yeah, he knew about that.

"So why does he cut the eyes out Mulder?" she asked feeling little more relaxed with him.

"He doesn't want them to see the ugliness; he is trying to keep them artificially young." He mused fingering the file. "He places the eyes in the bound hands for them to pray for new sight.'

"New sight? You mean like that Bible passage, For we walk by faith, not by sight."

It was Mulder's turn to be impressed, he wasn't a religious man, and had only read the Bible for purposes of profiling. So many of these take it out of context, twisting it to their own needs. "That's it exactly Agent Starrling." He grinned. She's good. "He loves these girls in a way, some small part of him is freeing them, maybe he thinks he is giving them either eternal life, or eternal youth."

He rose, feeling much better having poured some of it out of his head, at least for the night. "Thank you for letting me rant, you seem to have a knack for the hunt yourself. "He smiled down at her. "I will have a better detailed description tomorrow, come on down to the basement after lunch."

She thanked him and closed the door. She had to admit, he was the best.

Ruthby, thanx for the review...

Lil Gillian, does this answer your question?

I would encourage anyone who wants to stay for the whole show to rent and wATCH hANNIBAL IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY. i HOPE I HAVE NOT GROSSED ANYONE OUT, JUST WANTED TO TRY MY HAND A SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT...


	3. Paperclip

Why is it night and day?

Something is just not right today

Why am I so uptight today?

Paranoid is all I got left

I don't know what stressed me first

Or how the pressure was fed

But I know just what it feels like

To have a voice in the back of my head

Like a face that I hold inside

Face that awakes when I close my eyes

Face that watches every time I lie

Face that laughs every time I fall

It watches everything

Linkin Park

Dana Scully arrived into the office early the next day, she had wanted to be there before Mulder, have a cup of coffee waiting for him and straighten up the place a bit before he could arrive and complain about her doing so. She knew he would have had a rough night, cases like the one he had to profile last night always made him a little nutty.

"Morning Scully," Mulder smiled at her ten minutes after she had cleared off the desk. "I see the neatness faeries were here again, apparently that poison I set out last time didn't work…"

"Mulder, I know you thrive off having your entire life in utter chaos, but some of us tend to like things in a neat and orderly manner."

"This" he motioned to the neater version of the once chaotic basement office. "Wouldn't have anything to do with our little house guest yesterday would it?"

I hate it when you analyze everything Mulder, she fumed. "No," she offered instead. "But do you really want Skinner to walk in on all of this?"

He let it go, stepping around to the business side of his desk and landing in his chair. He tossed the case file onto the desk and turned on his computer. "I have work to do today Scully," he said turned away from her.

She tried to ignore his brusque demeanor, instead she went to her side of the desk and began to catch up on the piles of paperwork for their own cases that he did not seem to care about.

They worked in almost absolute silence, a far cry from their usual chatty work habits. Mulder often bounced ideas off Scully, and usually she in turn bounced rubber bands off of him. Today was like those quiet reading times in grade school. Offered usually when the teacher had a lot of papers to grade, or an oversized headache.

The knock at the office door shortly before they took lunch was almost welcome. "Agent Starrling," Mulder smiled. Scully sat up a little straighter as she walked into the office. "I wasn't expecting you until after lunch, " he looked at the report on his computer. "I was just about to email you a copy of my report…"

"I thought we could do a lunch meeting to discuss the case Agent Mulder," her face was characteristically unreadable, however Scully almost detected a different tone in her voice, something almost pleasant.

What the fuck?

"Yeah, "Mulder shot back, too fast. "That sounds like a plan Agent Starrling. "He looked over to Scully. "You wanna join us Scully?" his question was an earnest one, he seemed a little afraid to be alone at a lunch with Starrling, but she left him out to dry.

"Too much paperwork here can't stop…" she grinned "Go on without me, hey Mulder?" she called as they were almost out of the door.

"Big salad right?" he asked smiling at her predictability.

"Yeah and don't forget the…"

"Extra grilled tofu?" he nodded.

"You know me so well." She waved them out the door.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The gossip mill was set off at the vision of Spooky and Starrling walking out to lunch together. They all snickered behind the two agents about how Starrling had finally managed to find someone scary enough to take Lector's place.

They settled on the diner that Mulder usually frequented with the red head. Settling in the booth in the back, they got down to business.

Starrling sat and read through his report as Mulder attacked the extra large rib special with adolescent glee. Scully always nagged him about eating that much for lunch, but Starrling seemed unconcerned with what he had chosen for lunch.

"Agent Mulder am I to understand. "She began as she picked at her turkey sandwich, "That you believe this man is or was a priest?" the look on her face told him he may as well have gone with his first thought…aliens.

"Agent Starrling, look at all the things that point to it, the confirmation gowns, the prayer. This guy is clergy, and since he is obviously Catholic, I would have to say he is or was a priest." She had moved so quick that he didn't realize what she had done. One hand shot out from beside her and thumbed away a piece of sauce that had hung off the corner of his mouth. She did it so smoothly, without even taking her eyes off of the file in front of her.

"I think, he was a priest, and I guarantee you he got pitched out of the order. " he tried not to show her how her swiftness had unsettled him. Probably one of those things she picked up from all that time with Lector, he mused.

"What do you know of Catholicism Mulder?" she asked out of the blue.

"My partner is Catholic," he offered, but did not yield the smile he was trying to elicit

"Catholics are generally nonviolent, even with religious zealots, the members of this faith are not known for violent tendencies."

"What, you never heard of the Inquisition?" he eyed her suspiciously.

"Agent Mulder," she offered completely dead pan. "No one expects the Spanish inquisition."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Scully munched at her salad that Mulder had placed in front of her with great flourish. He was looking for a big thank you, and when she offered a mumbled "Thanks," He offered a crestfallen pout.

"How was your lunch date?" she asked with a smirk

"Scully, the Earth moved, the angels wept…." He grinned back.

"Mulder!" The eyebrow came up without even her knowing it.

"Seriously Scully," He started. "Agent Starling is a top notch agent, and I am surprised that so many people in this building have such a skewed view of her." He was a little star struck and Scully was trying not to be a little jealous.

"Well Mulder, I am sure you know all about that, I know I sure do." He smiled at her then, she understood him, better than he would like to admit.

"Yeah, well anyway Agent Starrling is going to spend the day down here tomorrow." He was surprised at her gaping stare at him.

"Excuse me Mulder?" She was really trying not to be jealous now.

"Well, she noticed that things were a little messy down here, offered to help organize the place a bit." He wasn't sure how to phrase to Scully that he had found a new buddy, someone who while didn't believe in the X-Files, had a pretty good working knowledge of Monty Python, and loved baseball.

"Mulder, did we not just have this conversation this morning?" she eyed him morosely. "You are going to let a stranger poke around in your precious files?" She knew there was nothing going on between them, that they connected on a wholly different level, one that only evil geniuses could be privy to. Scully suspected that something in his nature vaguely reminded Starrling of Lector.

"Well," he mused out loud. "I think she needs a different change of pace for a while, that and there are a lot of books down here on ritualistic murders and this case." He said tapping on the file in front of him. "Has a lot of that in it."

"Hmmm," she began teasingly," an all day play date with Agent Starrling. Next you'll be taking her to meet the guys. "She jeered getting her salad mess cleared away.

"I don't" Mulder gagged audibly. "I don't think Frohike would survive it.' He muttered.

"Me either."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Starrling paced the hallway outside of Apartment 42. She didn't know where Mulder had disappeared to after work, but she had to find him, and his cell phone was off. There was a new body, and time was ticking away on the freshness of the scene.

His long heavy footsteps alerted her to his arrival. "Agent Mulder," she greeted the surprised man. "We need to leave for Pittsburg immediately."

The plane had landed only ten minutes ago, and already they were en route to the scene. Starrling moved with the ease and speed of a hungry cat. Mulder had to walk fast to keep in pace with her. When the hunt was on, her blood ran ice cold.

"Agents Mulder and Scully? We didn't report any ghosts or lights in the sky." The fat, balding field agent from the Philadelphia office grinned at his own witticism. He wasn't the only one laughing; snickers ran through the crowd of law enforcement that had gathered in the cobblestone alley. The area was a quaint little side of town, what was once homes for wealthy Steel Mill Barons and politicians.

"Actually Sir," Agent Starrling spoke up before Mulder could get his usual crass reply in. "I am Agent Starrling, I am sure you are familiar with the particulars of this case? If not why don't you go find me whatever person is in charge here while you run and get us a couple of cups of coffee." He loved that about her, she had a way of disarming people, especially men, she feared nothing, and being paired with Spooky changed nothing for her except how fast she went for the jugular. "Cream, no sugar." She added flatly.

"Agent Starrling?" he scratched his head like the ape he had portrayed himself to be. "Aren't you the one that caught Buffalo Bill," he stopped and his eyes got wide. "You're the one with the thing with Lector. "The man went pale as Starrling made a slithery noise with her mouth. Like she was hungry.

Once the agent ran off, Mulder couldn't hold it any longer. "Man" he shook his head, laughing openly, "And I thought I had problems…" this was too much.

"Stick with me kid, "She smiled, actually smiled. "I'll teach you how to fish, cut, bait and gut them before they know what hit 'em."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The scene was more grotesque than the photos; the young strawberry blonde was propped in the usual manner, locked in mortal prayer. Agent Mulder gingerly and reverently examined her, seeing that the eyes had been removed. "Do we have a name yet?" he asked leaning over the girl examining odd marks on her bound legs.

Starrling grabbed at the stack of notes she had been given minutes ago. "Her name is Jordana Ashley, age 19, sophomore at Steel Land Junior College. She is a Math major and currently holds a 4.0 G.P.A."

"Man, Math," Mulder shook his head in disbelief. "I never could get that stuff." He admitted. "Anything about her home life?" He asked trying to keep focused.

"Mom and Dad are still together, younger brother and sister. Family has a median income, First Generation College." Clarice understood this. "She was going to make them proud." She added.

Mulder looked over to Starrling to make sure she was ok. "So she fits in with the rest of them. How would he know the victims Starrling? He is going after them systematically. How would he know which ones to go after?" He posed the question to her the same way he would have bounced it off of Scully.

"They are all A students, what about Phi beta Kappa or the honor society?" She asked as a student trying to get a pat on the head from the teacher.

"Yeah, we can start there. Also, I think it might be a good idea to check out some of the community organizations that offer scholarships. And, Catholic Charities." He stopped and thought for a second. "What school did you graduate from Starrling?" he asked deep in thought.

"UVA," she answered. "Public school." She added remembering what college he graduated from.

"University Of Virginia? Good school, I hear they have a great Criminal Justice Department. Ok," he seemed like he wanted to say something else, but stopped. Fox Mulder had realized that he came from a background that was different than most. "Did the other girls attend Junior College?" he asked examining the strips used to bind the hands "These are interesting…" he began.

"No Mulder," she began answering his first query," But they did all attend public schools." She wasn't sure where he was going with this.

"Have them cross reference someone that sits on one of the honor societies, and see if there are any former priests that sit on any of those boards. " He rose to look at the woman "Don't give me that look Agent Starrling, I am sure you know what a hunch is…" he teased, though he was well aware he was taking his life into his own hands by being playful with Clarice Starrling.

Her genuine smile, though brief, let him know he would live to joke another day. "Mulder," she spoke shaking her head, "I don't see how Agent Scully has put up with you for five years."

"My charm Agent Starrling," he reached into his pocket for a bag of sunflower seeds. "That and she has this Nightingale complex." He grinned.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Mulder," Scully whined long distance, "You know most women get flowers or candy on Valentine's Day…" It wasn't like her, but it was what Mulder would have expected her to do, complain, especially given how he knew she hated this day.

"Aww c'mon Scully, if I sent you that stuff you would either kill me or drop me off at the nearest asylum." He grinned; it was always fun to sweet talk her into things. He knew she would do it; she just liked to feel appreciated.

"Fine, ok, whatever." She huffed. "I'll autopsy the body, but you owe me big time Bucko..." she warned.

He made one more phone call after he thanked Scully profusely for her help.

"Yeah, I need you guys to do me a big favor, yeah I am gonna send it over. Just make sure Dr. Scully gets it ok? No don't tell her who it's from, no it's not like that. OH GROW UP!" he mashed the end button and huffed off in the direction of the car.

After checking into adjoining rooms at the motel 6, Mulder and Starrling found their dinner in a small roadside diner that looked like it had less roaches than the motel rooms were sure to have.

Starrling pushed her mashed potatoes around on her plate, as Mulder dove into his Mexican Platter with almost savage gusto. "Did it get to you tonight Starrling?" he asked between bites of his refried beans.

"No," she didn't look up from the meatloaf she was dissecting. She debated whether or not to tell him what each body she looked at reminded her of, what this case along with all the others dragged out of her. "Agent Mulder, I think you and I have become friends." She began, for some reason, maybe their shared pariah status at the Bureau, she felt like she could trust him.

"Lector," he breathed.

"I heard he was the one case you refused to profile."

"Yeah, well I had my reasons Starrling. I think Crawford was a little inept in sending you out there in the first place. I don't doubt your skills Agent Starrling, you are a stellar agent. But Lector, man, that guy is just wrong."

She graced him with an honest lingering smile this time, one that he was sure was only brought out for true friends. "Mulder, he got into my head…" she didn't know how else to explain it. "In more ways than I care to admit he is still rolling around in there."

He placed a hand over hers, and nodded in understanding. "One of the reasons I didn't care to get into his Starrling. Afraid of what would crawl back out with me." He shook his head. "I gotta tell you, you got more guts than me." He said earnestly. "You got more guts than all the agents in that whole damn Building put together."

"Thank you Mulder." She went back to picking at her dinner

"You ever talk to anyone about all of what went on?" he asked, suddenly feeling protective of her.

"Yeah, you know they tried to get me to talk to someone at the Bureau." He watched here as her armor went back on and she straightened up."But you know how those idiots are over there. Someone would have got hold of the whole session and pinned it up in the Bull Pen."

Trust issues.

Yeah he knew well how that went.

"Starrling, if you ever need to talk…" She nodded quickly and he let the conversation drop, better to not poke the bear.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dana Scully arrived at Quantico at five in the morning. She knew the body had not arrived yet, but she needed time to scrub up and get everything ready for the examination.

She walked through the eerily quiet halls of the building, her heels clicking as she went. The front desk let her know that the body would be delivered to Exam Room six, housed in the far room of the wing; it was the best of all the exam rooms, adjacent to the labs. She would never admit the rush she got when she was setting to a body. Never to Mulder especially, he already had a pet name for her that he didn't think she knew.

He affectionately would refer to her as the Queen of the Underworld.

Not exactly a hurtful moniker, but still one that put her on a gruesome level. He had snickered this one to Byers over a phone conversation she wasn't supposed to hear. She merely smirked at his clever naming and feigned stupidity. Sometimes with Mulder, that's all you could do, otherwise he would drive you absolutely insane.

She laid out her tools, after meticulously scrubbing the work area down and setting up the lab for the day's work. She never liked having assistants around; they only got in the way and asked more questions than she felt like answering. Man, she mused, I _have_ been around Mulder too long.

"Dr. Scully?" the young agent asked peeking his head into her realm.

"Yes?" she laughed as the young man jumped; she usually worked in the dark, or at least as dark as she could. She had not turned on the work lamp yet and the room was still cast in shadows.

The agent wheeled the body in and assisted her in getting it onto the exam table. "Oh, before I forget" he remarked fishing under the transport Gurnee. "I was told to make sure you got this." He handed her a gaudily huge heart shaped box. The weight of it had to be four pounds; she accepted the heart with a smile.

"I can't tell you who sent it Dr. Scully." The young man grinned heading for the door.

"Its ok Agent Ross, I already have an idea of who to kill for this one." She smirked trying to recall which local asylums took emergency drop offs.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Subject is Caucasian female, of approximately 19 years of age…" Dana Scully began making her preliminary view of the body, noting the marks around the body, noting the girl's height and weight. "Subject has small ligature marks around the neck, but the hyoid bone appears to be in tact which tells the subject did not die of strangulation, though some sort of strangulate measures were done pre mortem." Dana further examined the naked female body in front of her.

"Victim has no defensive wounds on her fingers; though I am scraping for tissue under the nails it would appear that there was little to no contact with the perpetrator." She held the wrists in her gloved hand. "Victim has severe ligature marks of the carpal regions, due to the pooling of the blood it is determined that these were done post mortem.' There were a lot of things about this case that don't make sense. For that reason it had Mulder written all over it.

For one, the marks on the legs, they were almost delicate carvings, intricate etchings that had to have a meaning. She made a mental note to request photos or rubbings of the other victims' markings. Also the staging was done post mortem, not that unusual, but the way the girls were killed. That was something that made her shiver visibly.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Do we have anything on our searches?" Mulder asked Agent Starrling as they drove off for the home of the Vic. They needed to get a handle on who she was, and then work backwards from there.

"No" she returned, frustrated at the findings. She sat in the passenger seat staring at the print outs. "But this is just preliminary; they need more time to check for all fifty states." She added hopeful.

He tried to get a handle on the case, trying to get a bead on who this maniac may be. "Agent Starrling," he began. "What did you make of those weird markings on the legs, the carvings?"

"There was something familial about them Mulder," she admitted. "Something I did not quite recognize." She looked at the brilliant man seated next to her. "You think these are important?" she asked again hopeful.

"I think," He smiled "That we need to get copies of all the drawings. "He looked at her full "I think its time you met some friends of mine…"

The home of Jordana Ashley was so typically middle class, that Mulder felt almost awkward strolling through it in his suit. The house was a four bedroom Tudor, two car garage. In short it was Americana at its truest form.

The parents had first appeared at the front door, red faced and puffy eyed. They hesitantly allowed the two federal agents' access into their home, further persistence on the part of Agent Mulder gained them access into the girl's room.

It was usually easier, Scully was the one who did the snooping while Mulder interviewed, and they had the routine down to a fine science. They would both sit in on the interview, then Scully would excuse herself for the bathroom, slipping into unguarded areas of the house. It wasn't Bureau policy, but then few things about the two agents were. Often Mulder would join her in her search once proper permission was granted.

This was different, Mulder wasn't sure what to expect with Agent Starrling, and they were so busy discussing the particulars of the case that they had not had the discussion yet. About who would tag team. So when Agent Starrling rose five minutes into the interview, asking for use of the facilities and winking at Mulder, he was almost rendered speechless.

"So did your daughter receive any special scholarships or awards?" Mulder went on regaining himself.

"Yes Sir," Mr. Ashley smiled proudly. "They called her one of the best and brightest." He walked over to a small bookshelf, erected especially for the display of his daughters trophies. Mulder rose and took note of each special accolade.

"You guys are Catholic, correct?" he asked as tactfully as he could manage.

"Yes," Regina Ashley answered, almost hollowly:"Though not exactly devout, we haven't attended mass in what Nick?" she turned to her husband. "Ten years" he agreed.

"May I look into her room now?" he asked having been given the signal from the other agent when she was sure the Ashleys would not see. After assuring them to leave the room as he had found it, he followed their directions into the dead girl's realm.

"Agent Mulder," Starrling began in a hurried hushed tone. "I found something I think you need to see." Mulder grinned as he followed her, you are good with bedrooms Clarice, and you get your best interpretations of a case there.

What she showed him was more than what he had expected to find in the bedroom of a straight A, Catholic student. "I think," he choked fingering the book that had been found on the girl's desk. "This may explain a lot." He thumbed through the book, almost feeling ill as he turned the pages.

Hey wow, would you all beleve this is becoming my favourite fanfic that i have written? I think this would have3 made a stellar epi, but that is just me

Don;t worry, SStarrrling would never go for Mulder, she is too into other things.

But, i always thought they would really pal around together, ya know? Hey its my fanfic and i can do what i want LOL


	4. Hotel California

Mirrors on the ceilings

The pink Champagne's on ice

And she said

We are all just prisoners here

Of our own device

And in the Master's chambers

They gather for the feast

They stab it with their steely knives

But they just can't kill the beast

The Eagles

Agent Starrling had opted to drive back to the motel, the book that the agents had found at the home of the victim had taken a lot out of Mulder, he had gone white at the site of it. She knew that his specialty was ritualistic fetishes, and for a man with that background to be shaken, she knew the pictures in that book were something that may even make Lector want to puke.

Maybe.

"Mulder," he answered his ringing phone, happy when his silent wish had been answered.

"Mulder I just got done going over the body." Scully had smiles in the back of her voice; she must have gotten the candy he mused.

"Find anything good?" Your Royal Highness, he thought biting back laughter.

"Mulder there are some curiosities about this case that lead me to believe it may be an X-File." She couldn't believe she was telling him this, maybe it was the candy talking, but she still made a mental note to have her head examined at some point.

"Yeah, Scully," he agreed. "I feel you there, but..." he trailed off looking at the woman driving.

"You are afraid to tell her aren't you?" Scully almost had to cover the phone to keep from literally guffawing. "What's wrong Mulder; scared your new buddy will lose respect for you?" She stopped in the middle of the tirade. "Mulder, I think I may know what these marks on the legs are, I want to check against the other markings first, but it may shed some light on the motives of the perp."

"You do that Scully, and let me know when you get something hammered down ok?" he was surprised she didn't mention anything about his little joke, though he figured she would rather kill him in person than warn him of his death over the phone.

She agreed and they hung up. "Starrling…" Mulder began shuffling his feet against the floor of the rental car.

"You think," she began smirking. "That there may be something more than just odd about this case right?"

"Would you think any less of me as a man if I told you I was afraid to mention it to you?" he looked out the window for a minute. "That book, Agent Starrling, " he choked. "That book is for serious satanic worshippers. There were pictures in that book of actual animal sacrifices. It was like a book of Shadows…" he cleared his throat and fell silent for a while.

"You think they were all into it don't you?" she asked picking up on his quiet mood.

"Yeah, and I think our perp knew all about it. It explains a lot of the staging Starrling." He absently placed another sunflower seed in his mouth. "I think he believes he is actually doing the Lord's work here."

"Maybe he is Agent Mulder." She threw out, flooring him with her remark.

He sighed and went on. "Let's run over to the field office and have them fax over a completed file on all the girls. We may have to go back and retrace some steps here, you up for it?" he asked smoothly.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mulder and Starrling sat in the back of the local field office, waiting for the fax on the info they had requested. "I gotta tell ya Mulder," Starrling whispered over to Mulder, "The last thing I expected on this one was to be thrown into an X-File." She grinned.

"Agent Starrling, I am surprised at you, I thought my reputation preceded me," he smiled at her in earnest. "Hey, you come down to the basement, and you take your career into your own hands…"

"So, much like Super Chicken, I knew the job was dangerous when I took it?" she was almost in tears laughing. She hadn't had this much fun since college. Mulder had a way of bringing that out of people.

The fat agent from last night dropped the thick case files unceremoniously on the table between them before grunting and slumping away from the odd couple. "Starrling," Mulder purred as he began to sort through the papers. "I think you have a fan…"

"Aww Mulder, and here I was thinking he could be your Valentine."

"Ouch Starrling, " he grinned. "Hey, look at this." Mulder hopped up and began pinning papers onto the empty bulletin board.

Agent Starrling rose and followed the suddenly hyper man as he arranged photos on the board. "They are all the same." She flared. "It's like a mark, a signature maybe?"

"These were done post mortem, I think," he began fishing for his phone. "That these are some sort of protection symbols."

"Protection from what Mulder?" it seemed a little odd for her that the murderer would be trying to protect the girls he had killed.

"Not _from_ Agent Starrling, _for_." He hit the speed dial to try and reach Scully before she left out. "He's not trying to protect these girls from anything. He's trying to protect humanity from them.'

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dana Scully parked in front of the building that housed the Lone Gunmen; Frohike's glee at her arrival was more than just passing.

"Agent Scully," he sang, guiding her into the building. "I wish we knew you were coming we would have straightened up a bit." He ran his fingers through his wild balding head as Langley tried to turn off the monitors that displayed nudity.

Byers stepped out from the kitchen, "What's up agent Scully?" he smiled.

"I have something I need your expertise for." It was always good to stroke their ego a little; they worked faster and less grumpy that way.

She showed them the pictures, as they busied themselves scanning the images into their computers to be cross referenced, her phone rang.

"Scully,"

"Scully, it's me." Well duh Mulder, she thought. "I think these are some form of talisman etchings. What do you know or remember from Catechism in grade school?" Why did he always make her feel like it was test day and she forgot to study?

"Not a whole lot Mulder, I tried to block that all out, all those plaid skirts and knee socks…"

"Not now Scully," she could hear his voice crack slightly, "I am on to something here. " He paused before going on. "I think our vics were into some pretty nasty stuff. Agent Starrling and I are out here at the Pittsburgh field office looking over some of the older cases. Scully I think these girls were into serious satanic rituals."

"Mulder," she had that admonishing tone in her voice that she always got when he got too excited over something. Usually something weird and bizarre. "This isn't like that case we went on where frogs rained on us is it, because that was just gross."

"They were toads Scully, and besides, those people were amateurs, these girls…" he took in a deep breath. "Have not just networked, I think they have franchised. Are you over at the guys'?"

"Yes I am, can't you here Frohike panting?" she grinned

"Hey," Frohike pouted, "I could make you pant if you want…"

"Have them do some searching for occult news groups and internet chat groups we are looking for serious Satan loving teens here, so you might want to steer clear of the porn sites."

"Mulder," she whined.

"Hey Scully,"

"Hmm?" she asked trying to sound disinterested; she had caught the non work note in his voice.

"You didn't get anything for Valentine's day huh?" he asked in almost a hushed tone.

"No, why?" she grinned. Oh yeah buddy your gonna twist, and wait till you get yours…

"No reason." He sighed, afraid of what was coming.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The day had become a tedious excursion in eye strain. Mulder and Starrling poured over each case, stacks and stacks of documents, stopping only long enough to ingest something that was similar to lunch.

"Agent Mulder," Starling began, "I don't see how these girls could have managed to get into all of this occultism without anyone knowing about it…" Ok, she thought, so I am still trying to reel this one in, so what? She still hadn't decided how she felt about working an actual X-File.

"Starrling, we are looking into the possibility that these girls not only all knew each other, but got together to perform cult sacrifices and rituals."

"Do you think they had a purpose in this? I mean they all seem to be from decent backgrounds, great grades..."

"Maybe that is part of it Starrling," he mused eyeing a photo of the fifth victim. "Maybe this is about getting a bigger piece of the American Dream than what they had to start with."

Starrling in a way understood what he was trying to say here. "You think this is about ambition?"

"It was, at least it started out that ay, but somewhere along this path, and either they got drawn in or…'

"They jumped into something they were not supposed to" she took another bite of her sub,"Mulder, this does go along with your theory…"

"The priest thing? Yeah, he found out about all of this, it is the only thing that fits with the profile Starling. Look at the crimes, they are almost offertory. We assumed he was trying to make a statement, as most of them are. But this one is different, even my perversely skeptical partner has her doubts on this one." He grinned

"You two are very close aren't you?" she knew she was hitting a touchy subject here, but she had opened up to him first, now it was his turn.

Tit for Tat, Clarice, he purred inside her head.

Fox Mulder blushed, ducking his head a little not wanting to meet Clarice Starrling's knowing glare, "We get along really well." He offered as vaguely as possible.

"Agent Mulder, I have spent a lot of time around you in the past few days, and I can say honestly that the two of you are unnaturally close." she smiled so sweetly at this that Mulder had to grin back.

He had taken on the look of a boy with a crush, he wasn't aware that this happened every time he had a not so casual discussion where Agent Scully's name came up. "If the Bureau knew half the conversations we had…" he stopped here, shaking his head. "I need her Agent Starrling, professionally she is my perfect partner, do you get that? I can't run the risk of losing her because of…hormones. Beyond that Agent Starrling, whew that is a tough one. We have been through more together in five years than most partners see in a lifetime. She always has my back."

"So you two just go along torturing each other? That doesn't sound very healthy to me Mulder," She placed her hand on his shoulder in solidarity. "Have you considered what might happen if she decides she wants more?"

"Pretty much, yeah, always skirting the issue, dodging the proverbial bullet, all to keep the X-Files going. We dance around that office like two people who have been married for years, and yet I can tell you that we have never taken anything to a level that would threaten our positions. We are so close to the Truth…"

"Yeah," she frowned. "Closer to the Truth than either of you realize."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dana Scully sat at the computer rubbing her burning eyes for the millionth time that afternoon. They had been at it all day, trying to find any group on the internet that would cross reference the names of the girls that had been murdered. Scully wasn't sure about if they would find anything, that perhaps wither the perp, or the girls themselves had shut the whole thing down once they realized what was going on. She had stopped her own searching to make one short visit onto a web site, and a purchase. Rush delivery was happily paid.

"Scully," she answered her phone.

"Agent Scully," Skinner spoke in his usually authoritative monotone voice. "The case that you two are working on, there has been some new developments. I've already called Mulder and Starrling to return to DC immediately. I need for you to come to my office as soon as you can get here."

"May I ask what this is about Sir?"

"Not over the phone Agent Scully..." he warned.

"I'll be there in an hour."

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Mulder entered the basement office with Clarice in tow, they had hopped the first flight back to DC, and had made it to the Hoover building in record time, mostly thanks to Starrling's souped up death mobile. Man he swore to himself never to complain about Scully's driving ever again.

The phone call from Scully had informed them to meet in the basement; she had been cloaked and vague about what information could be so important to drag them off of the case in mid stroke. Once he entered their office, he realized there was more to this than he had even guessed at.

There were two girls, roughly the same age as the other victims, and guessing from the looks of their dress, they were roughly from the same background as the other girls.

"Agent Mulder," she began, "Agent Starrling, I would like for you to meet Frannie Holmes, and Reesa Morgan" she walked closer to where the two agents were standing, looking Mulder in the eye. "They came to offer some information on this case, and to ask for protection."

Mulder eyed the two teens suspiciously, aware of what these girls were up to and had gotten away with. "I need to ask you girls some questions."

The taller one, Frannie, looked at the blonde, Reesa as if to say 'I told you so," They spoke wordlessly to each other before either one would answer. "What do you want to know?" Reesa asked.

Mulder hopped up on top of his desk, pulling something out of his briefcase. "I want to know about this." He said shoving the book from Jordana's room in front of them.

They shuddered visibly at the sight of the book, Frannie began to sob and shake bad enough to elicit Scully's attention. "You ok Ms. Holmes?" she asked, though not terribly concerned.

"This was all Jordana's idea in the first place, that's why she had the Book." Frannie sobbed.

"Shut Up Frannie, don't be such a Nark." Reesa warned.

"No" Mulder began "You are both gonna talk cause fourteen of your friends are dead, and silence isn't going to help on this one."

Frannie looked like she was going to shatter into a million pieces at any time; Reesa maintained her tough outer appearance, but Mulder's keen senses saw something in her eyes akin to absolute fear and panic. "Jordana said this would really get us set for life." Frannie whined. "She said we would be able to go into what ever field we wanted to, as long as we kept up our…games."

"She called this a game?" Starrling asked a little sickened by eh cavalier nature this was all taking from the girl's' part.

"Yeah," it was Reesa's turn to speak. "The rest of us wanted to get into college, but Jordana, man she took to it like a duck to water. She just went off to community college, said she wanted to stay close to the hunting grounds back home.'

"I think," Scully came around and seated herself next to Mulder on the desk, "That you girls had better start at the beginning, and if you want our help on this, don't leave anything out."

I gotta tell you guys this is TOO much fun...


	5. Sympathy For The Devil

Just as every cop is a criminal

And all the sinners, saints

As you hear this tale

Just call me Lucifer

Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me have some courtesy,

Have some sympathy and some taste

Use all your well earned politics

Or I'll lay your soul to waste.

Rolling Stones

The girls eyed the three adults as if they were going to eat them alive. Frannie, Mulder knew, was gonna spill, and spill big time. She did not let him down.

"We met in a chat room" she began having acquired tissues from Agent Scully as Agent Starrling did her best to not reach across the room and kill the sniveling little brat. "At first it was just, well you know, we would all chat about usual stuff. Not one of us had an idea where this was gonna go..."

Reesa piped in here, the blonde turned her charm onto the male agent, as if appealing her case. "We just didn't want to end up like the other girls in our towns. They all got knocked up and never went anywhere. Then they would spend their time popping out snot nosed little Cretans and all the while complaining about how fucked up their lives were, when in all actuality it was their own faults."

Scully and Starrling exchanged almost knowing looks. They had known of girls like that, reaching for the wedding ring instead of the brass one. "So you took matters into your own hands?" Clarice asked to not one in particular.

"Jordy said that we were special, that we could choose our own destiny. She made us believe." Mulder noted how rare it was for a female character to display such traits; he was reminded vaguely of Jim Jones and spiked Kool-Aid.

"The first time we got together, we were just gonna have one of those chat room parties, you know? We were gonna all drive out to Pittsburg and have a little fun. Sixteen of us made it out there, not counting Jordy who already lived out there."

"Yeah, our Fearless Leader." Reesa huffed.

Frannie went on, unaffected by Reesa's sneer. "Jordy got us out there to this abandoned boarding school. It was kinda creepy and reminded us a little of Camp Crystal Lake. It kind of got us into the mood."

"Did you do anything that first night?" Mulder asked from his perch.

The two girls exchanged another series of glances before Reesa broke in. "She brought this cat, it was a black cat. She said it was a symbol of the evil in all of us."

"She said we were going to kill it with our minds, and then she began to chant. Next thing we were all chanting, holding hands, it was like a force had compelled us to go on. "Frannie was beet red now, and shaking bad enough to cause her speech to stutter.

"Ten minutes later, the cat in the cage keeled over dead. None of us knew what to do, Jordana whooped so loud we all thought we would get busted. She was always saying how we were above the law, how we wouldn't get caught, how we answered to know one but…" Reesa trailed off, afraid to mention the name, but everyone in that office knew what she would not speak.

They were Satan's special girls.

"Next thing we knew, no one could touch us, we were acing every class in school. There were a few odd side effects, but nothing none of us couldn't handle. It was such a fucking _high. _"Reesa's giddiness shook the three seasoned agents, and alerted Mulder to the fact that he was indeed looking into pure evil.

"Who was your first kill Frannie?" Mulder asked, he knew he would be able to get it out of her.

"We never killed anyone," Reesa defended. "We only used animals for our-"

"You forget Reesa; I read your little book." He waved in front of her.

"I never signed my name to it." She spoke up, nose in the air as if this were all far beneath her.

Starrling had had enough; in fact she had quite gotten to the point where she was ready to start using less the policy tactics on these girls, the kind that the brass pretended no to notice." All right then, that being said," she clapped her hands together, and walked over to the door, opening it for effect. "You two are free to go, we don't think there is anything any of you can help us with." she motioned for them to leave.

After yet another exchange of looks the two girls went bone pale, Frannie looked as if she were going to grovel, and Reesa had finally lost the smug tug of her mouth. "We came here to get your help." Reesa pouted at Mulder. She was the kind of girl used to be able to pull any man any age to get what she wanted.

"And we offered that help in the exchange of information, you two seem to believe this is all a game. " Mulder railed, surprising the smug blonde so much she jumped. "There are fourteen dead girls and a crazed maniac killing you off, and all you can do is sit there and whine about how you had nothing to do with this. Give me a break!" Mulder slid off the desk and joined Starrling by the door.

"That's just it." Frannie finally squeaked. "We think we know this guy."

"We aren't offering up nothing without some reassurances. " Reesa huffed, having watched too many episodes of Law and Order.

Starrling had moved so fast, that neither Mulder nor Scully had the chance to catch her; she scooped up the girl by her neck and slammed her against the closest wall. "Now you listen to me little girl." She hissed, as the other three in the room watched in disembodied fascination. "I don't have a whole lot of time or patience for your crap right now so I am going to make myself very clear very quickly.' Reesa's face was starting to lose color, and her breathing was coming at a clipped, tortured rate. And yet she wisely found the strength to nod in agreement.

"Starrling turned to the other girl, "Give me a name now." She said so authoritatively that Mulder almost snapped out an answer.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Neither one of them spoke as they suited up to ride over to the home of Howard Bearse. The name of the man that had for the last year tried to infiltrate the group that the girls had formed. He had first begun by dumping into their private chat rooms, no great offense over the internet, more of the work of an annoying little worm.

But, after a time he had become more insistent, the group had decided to change chat rooms, and after a time he had found them. They were sure they were being stalked, though no one had ever seen what he looked like, Reesa claimed that they felt him at the meetings.

After Starrling had released the elusive Reesa, she suddenly had become quite the little chatterbox, relating details of their cult behavior and readily answering every question they had. For a second, even just a split second while Starrling had the girl up against the wall, Mulder believed Starrling would take a bite.

Once information had been assessed, they gathered in the basement office checking their weapons and adjusting their gear. Starrling grinned as she watched Mulder strap in his second holster. "Hey Mulder," she grinned lifting up her left pant leg, revealing her own personal stash. "Separated at birth?"

Mulder grinned taking a good look at her holster, they were identical. "I'm starting to wonder Starrling," he smirked, "You sure you don't remember anything about a handsome dark haired big brother and a government conspiracy?"

"In your dreams Mulder,"

The three had sped off in different directions yet with the same mission, trying to nail down the current residence of the right Howard Bearse. There were twelve in the four state residences that the girls lived in, but Mulder and Starrling believed he was either from the Pittsburgh area, or recently moved there.

"Why?" Scully asked whipping her head back between the two.

"For one," Mulder began while checking the computer for the hundredth time, "The meetings took place in Pittsburgh, and he was present for all of them, or so the two girls believe."

"And Two," Starrling ticked off from the other side of Scully, "The leader of this little group was killed almost last, which tells us that this was too close to home that he was afraid of getting caught.'

Scully could not help but feel like they had accidentally stuck her in the gifted class. She resisted the urge to drag the two of them down into the Underworld and show them what feeling lost really felt like. Come into my realm, she giggled silently.

They were right, the address for the Howard Bearse was for Pittsburgh, PA. He fit the bill, twenty two, well built, menial job.

And a recent Seminary reject.

Mulder was in full gloat mode half of the way there, the other half he spent tryi9ng to get into Clarice Starrling's head, at least in the first foot hold.

"What went on back there Starrling?" he asked as gently as he could remember to be.

"She was rude Agent Mulder, and there is no excuse for rude behavior." She didn't meet his glare as they sat in the back of the transport van.

Mulder didn't like her too close semblance to Hannibal, but he left it alone in favor of discussing field tactics, she was a real whiz with that.

The run down residence of Howard Bearse was situated right next to the Potter's Field in a small suburb of Pittsburgh. The house looked like something off of a horror movie, and as they approached the crumbling front stairs, guns drawn and a fleet of agents behind them, Mulder wondered if the house would survive the raid.

Of course he wasn't there, they all figured he would have vacated the residence right before or right after the most recent murder. The house was not so bad inside, almost had a warm feel to it. Ancient furniture and paintings covered the layout, and they advanced through the house with a caution learned from countless numbers of similar raids.

When they arrived in the attic, all bets were off. The room upstairs was huge, and covered floors walls and ceilings with pages from the Bible.

"This guy has seen The Omen too many times." Scully sneered.

Mulder and Starrling snickered at her observation, then Mulder spoke up. "Actually Girls," Mulder spoke, ignoring the swats from both women on either side of him. "I think he is trying to insulate himself in here." He fingered the crinkly pages of the walls. "See? There is an altar over in the corner." He also pointed out the candles, and a brass bowl that looked as if it had held blood a few times. "I think this is where he worked; we need to get an investigative unit up here right away."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Fox Mulder entered his apartment, having bid a temporary good night to the other agents accepting a ride from the FBI Transport. They had gone out to the house with some hopes, but this case was starting to really stretch Mulder's sense of reality. For one, these girls were not the innocent victims that they wanted people to believe, he had not gotten it out of them yet, but he was sure they were responsible for some deaths themselves, though not directly.

Secondly was the eroding mental state of Agent Starrling, he knew he did not know her all that well, but he had enough psychology degrees behind him to know when someone was buzzing the tower and not trying to miss it. She was shredding out and he wondered how long she had been going down hill. Had she always had a propensity for losing it? Or did Hannibal make off with a big chunk of her high functioning brain.

Mulder did not believe either; Mulder believed this had to do with the way the FBI was run. Clarice Starrling had stepped on a lot of toes when she, nothing more than a trainee not even out of Quantico yet, had hunted and found Buffalo Bill. Had she been a man, Mulder believed she would have Crawford's job in Behavioral Sciences. He himself had been dubbed a 'wunderkind', and had the Bureau on its knees to him. Too many 'good ole boys' didn't like the tone of her, she was brusque, tough, smart and didn't play patty cake with the brass. Not to mention the fact that she was a stunningly beautiful woman.

But, he was not only form a prominent background with friends in high places, he was also in possession of the one thing many in the FBI seemed to hold in high regard when it came to promotion and recognition—he had a penis.

He wasn't feeling right, and he had not been home in over three days, his first check of his fish proved that at least three of them had survived the most recent neglect. He walked over to the tank and kicked something that had not been there before.

The package was addressed to him, and had an odd return address. Absently he shook the box before attacking it with the letter opener from atop his desk. Brushing aside the Styrofoam peanuts, he shook free the deflated object and released it from the tangle.

"Damn It Scully," He breathed as he examined the anatomically correct, bikini clad, alien blow up doll. "You know as well as I do they are grey, not green."

This was war.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dana Scully ran her bath the minute she hit the front door, right after kicking her shoes across the living room floor and not caring where she would have to dig them out from later. As her bath collected, she collected her mail, and put on water for a cup of tea. In the kitchen, she eyes her super sized box of candy on the kitchen table. Grinning, she opened the box and popped one into her mouth.

At least he had good taste, she purred as the confection melted into her mouth, she turned off the kettle, grabbed the box and headed into the bathroom.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

She fumbled with the keys, trying to get into the duplex before the phone stopped ringing. Clarice Starrling could stare down any gun toting drug dealer and his cohorts, she could serve warrants to Mafioso in the middle of a Family meeting, hell she could even hunt down half crazed cannibalistic murderers. But just don't let that damn phone ring while she is trying to get in the front door.

"Damn it," she screamed as she dropped the keys. Taking a deep breath, she picked them up, casually opened the door, and strolled over to the still ringing phone.

"Hello," she panted into the phone.

"Clarice," he purred. "Did I catch you in the middle of something? Are you being a naughty girl with that new friend of yours?"

"Dr. Lector," She silently prayed her pounding heart was not audible through the phone, but knowing Lector the way she did, she was sure he could smell it.

"Don't bother trying to trace me Clarice," he went on in that fine metallic voice of his. "I'm on a disposable cell phone, I am sure you being the mighty huntress that I know you to be, you well understand the validity of my statement."

Oh yeah, she knew well.

"What do you want Dr. Lector?" She asked hitting the record button on her answering machine.

"Clarice, now that is not polite. I take great care for us to have a civilized conversation, and you try to brush me off. Is her there Clarice?"

"Who Dr. Lector?" she knew she should not encourage him, but on some level this was mildly intriguing.

"Clarice, I think you know that I am a relatively intelligent man, and one of quite impeccable intuition. "His voice, she fumed, damn his voice could race without picking up speed. "That Mulder you have become fond of. Are you close Clarice? Does he excite you? Does he want to fuck you?"

"Dr. Lector, I am surprised at your choice of words," she had found long ago that much like a child, it was usually good to try and redirect Lector.

"The FBI has no love for you Agent Starrling, you can pour your heart out to them, and they will serve it back to you still beating, still longing for some sort of cadence. This Mulder, tell me Agent Starrling, does he have your heart?"

"Dr. Lector, why don't you tell me where you are, we can meet, I can haul your ass in…"

"That's my girl," he went on, "Always thinking. No Clarice, it is not our time yet, but perhaps…. soon." He paused for a moment. "In the mean time, you are to behave yourself." He hung up then, leaving her feeling cold, and empty.

Oh yeah Lector, she mused dragging a load out of the washer, our time is coming.

Ahhh yes, you know his royal evilness had to be inthis...hmmm ownder who would win?


	6. Dead Leaves and Dirty Ground

Dead leaves and dirty ground

When I know you're not around

Shiny tops and soda bottles

When I hear your lips make a sound

When I hear your lips make a sound

Sudden notes in the mailbox

Will tell you when I'm coming home

And I think I'm gonna stick around

For a while so you're not alone

For a while so you're not alone

White Stripes

She didn't know who else to call, other than alerting the FBI of her most recent conversation with the infamous Hannibal Lector, she needed someone to talk to and quick.

"Mulder," he answered his cell a little groggily.

She hesitated a little before speaking. "He called me this morning right when I got home."

"I'll be there in ten minutes."

Xxxxxxxxxx

Milder sat in the chair across form Starrling as she replayed the recorded conversation from earlier. "Oh man," he racked rubbing his hands over his face, something about Lector's voice was, unnerving.

"He is obviously watching me Mulder." She paced not sure how to react to all of this.

"Obviously" Mulder noted, wondering if he would be baked in a soufflé or sautéed in garlic.

"You getting a little nervous over there Agent Mulder?" she grinned slightly.

"You could call it nervous, or maybe just a little concerned, I mean I am not sure how I feel about being eaten." He grinned back.

"Well, he alluded to coming here soon, I have a hunch…"

"See, you do know what a hunch is Agent Starrling" Mulder teased trying to lighten the mood.

"Uh huh." She dismissed. "I think he is already near here Mulder. I have a feeling that he isn't far."

Mulder felt his blood congeal in his veins. The man did not so much scare Mulder so much as completely terrify him. "And he thinks you and I are…"

"Yeah," she agreed.

"Which means he is now a jealous homicidal cannibal." he remarked offhandedly.

Starrling ducked her head at his phrasing, she knew Hannibal Lector had a thing for her, from their first meeting, but it was something she tried to not think about too much. She had not herself dealt with her own feelings on Hannibal, so much there that was wrong, and yet…

"I didn't say that to piss you off Starrling, I am just thinking out loud." He tried to offer her a friendly smile.

"It's ok Mulder, " she sighed ready to let him in, just a little further. "Dr. Lector and I share a—bond is the wrong word here, and I don't know how to put it to you without coming off like a complete nut."

"Take your time Starrling," he felt himself slip into Psych mode.

"He respects me Mulder, something I don't get a lot of at work or anywhere else." She sat down on the couch across from him, hands over her eyes, hunched over. "He respects my intelligence and my abilities. He made me face things from my past that I myself had tried to run away from for so long it was eating me alive."

"I hope that pun was unintended Starrling."

"Maybe not Mulder, I have felt myself starting to go downhill for a while now. I know I should not be admitting this to another agent, but I have no one else to…"

"Trust me Agent Starrling.' Mulder leaned close r to her. "I know how it is, you can trust me ok?" he absently placed his hand on her knee. "You have to let someone in, you have spent so much of your life shutting people out, and the only one let in was Lector, its no wonder you are having feelings for him."

Starrling shot Mulder a look that he had seen on his partner a few times, mostly right before she drew her weapon. "Agent Mulder I don't think that is a fair nor appropriate assessment of my connection with Dr. Lector," she stammered.

Mulder leaned back, letting out a deep sigh; this one was going to take a while. "He got into your head Starrling, after you spent years making sure no one got in. He is male you are female, what is there not to understand. Its perfectly natural, well in a completely unnatural way…" Oh man, he thought to himself, Scully is going to love this. "And as you've said, he respects you, for a woman in your position, your career; respect can be a major turn on."

He had almost made her feel better, had almost given her some credence and validity to her feelings; feelings she herself thought were disgusting, but unavoidable in their consistency. "I appreciate you listening objectively Mulder; I don't think anyone else at the Bureau would understand."

"Hey," he laughed, "That's why they call me Spooky."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Scully sat in the office Monday morning, nursing her second cup of coffee and glancing over autopsy reports from the first thirteen victims. The tongue thing made her lose the thought of lunch for the day.

Mulder strolled in five minutes later, looking haggard and worn. "Morning Scully." He smiled

"Mulder, have we got anything new on the Bearse case?" she asked without even looking up from her notes.

"Matter of fact, No we don't." he sat down opposite her at his side of the desk. "Come to think of it they can't find this guy anywhere which I myself am, finding a little unsettling, along with other things."

This made Scully look up. "What, did you recieve some disturbing mail or something?" she offered rendering her face unreadable.

"Aside from _that_," he smiled back. "Starrling received a new message from her not so secret admirer on Saturday."

"No way, he didn't" Scully eyed with the eyebrow raised.

"He did, and, he is concerned at her new friendship.' Mulder was a little hesitant to mention this part of it, not wanting Scully to get the wrong idea about he and Starrling.

"Really? Should he be?" she was prodding now, and damn it she wanted to know.

"Scully, you can't have a two in five billion." He gave a lopsided grin at her reddened face. "She is not well Scully, and I don't know if I or anyone else can help her."

"She is upset about the phone call?" Scully asked, feeling better about the whole thing now.

"No," he shook his head. "In fact I got the impression she was almost happy to hear from him."

"Mulder, I told you what Lector feels about Agent Starrling has nothing to do with how she feels. "

"You're wrong Scully." Man that felt good. "It has everything to do with it. Let me ask you a question Scully, do you feel respected here?"

"You mean do I think you respect me? Well yes Mulder I think you respect me, as a matter of fact I feel very well respected by you." She didn't mind paying him that complement it was the truth after all.

"Do you feel respected around here? I mean besides me and Skinner, do you feel any love around here?" he was getting to a point and he hoped she was not offended.

Scully thought for a second, "Not really Mulder, if anything I am grateful for having as little contact with the other agents around here as I do. But, that is hard to say as if it is because I am a woman, or because I am 'Mrs. Spooky'." She thought for a moment before going on. "Hannibal respects her doesn't he? Or at least has her convinced somehow that he is the only one that can and will understand her."

"Yeah, he put the whammy on her pretty hard." He sighed.

Scully felt her flesh crawl briefly. "I can see how this happened; if I didn't have you around to remind me how right I am all the time...'

"Ouch Scully," he grinned.

"I can see how this happened." She sighed putting aside the case files for a while. "Mulder, maybe she needs to talk to someone, I never told you but when that whole Donnie Pfaster thing went on I went to speak with someone. It helped me deal with the creepy nature of that case." She shuddered a little at the memory of Donnie Pfaster, who had become infatuated with her red hair. Sad she thought to herself, a guy finally finds her red hair sexy and he is a fetishist.

"She has some trust issues, especially when it comes to anyone here in the Hoover building, and to tell the truth, I can't say as I blame her."

"Yeah, you would say that." She grinned.

"They tried to hang her on that Evelda Drumgo case. They almost nailed her til Lector sent that letter. They were ready to have a hearing to boot her out of the Bureau till they realized she was their best chance to catch Lector. "Mulder leaned back rubbing his stiff neck. "First they use her to bait the guy into helping with the Buffalo Bill case, now they keep her around to bait him into capture."

"The opportune word there Mulder is bait. If that is the only reason she got an office at Behavioral Sciences after all she had done for the Bureau, then maybe I will show up with a machete in a show of sisterhood solidarity." She was half serious.

"Hey Scully, wanna give me a heads up? Think I'll call in sick that day."

"Mulder, if Lector thinks you and Starrling are an item, he may come after you.."

Mulder looked over to his computer, not wanting to show Scully the less than manly fear in his eyes. "Yeah, I know. The thing about Lector is that he is smart, I mean smart. If he wanted to find me, he would have no problems doing so I am sure of it. I would not be surprised if he had access to the FBI files online. You know they think he got a hold of his old doctor, the one from that Boston hospital that got closed. The schmuck went on vacation one year and was never seen nor heard from again."

Scully shot him a look of utter fear before going on. "Mulder, there is something else you have not considered. Lector hates rude people, and you do have a reputation for really pissing people off."

"Hey, it's the best part of my charm!" he tried to joke. "I know Scully, but you need to be careful too, if he has access to the Bureau files, then he knows you are my partner, he may grab you to draw me out. Just watch your ass ok." Better yet he mused to himself; I'll watch it for you.

Funny how two people who have gone up against everything from liver eating mutants to high level shadow government conspiracies, and yet find themselves almost brought to their knees by a single man who's only paranormal attribute are his polydactyl appendages.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Thanx to my loyal readers who have been waiting so patiently for me to get ooff my duff and update this one, let the games begin

MNoisemaker, would love to read that fanfic, send me a link!


	7. Hell's Bells

Rolling thunder, pouring rain

I'm coming on like a hurricane

White lightening flashing across the sky

You're only young but you're gonna die

Won't take no prisoners,

Won't spare no lives

Nobody's putting up a fight

Oh I got the ride I'm gonna take you to Hell

I'm gonna get you, Satan'll get you

Hells Bells

You got me ringing

Hells Bells

ACDC

They had hit an impasse in the case, and just when they were ready to start banging their heads against the cinderblock wall of the basement office, a break came, actually two.

Starrling had spent most of that week in the office of the X-Files, finding the chaotic mess there almost comforting, and Mulder really did have a stellar library down there. They were searching for Howard Bearse, trying to find where he could have holed up at, until Agent Scully, always the nitpicker and mathematician of the two figured out a key that the other two agents had missed.

She had to admit it felt good to show them up on the field of battle, the two of them were so alike, so similar in the way they hunted, that she began to feel out numbered. "I don't think the girls gave us the whole picture."

Mulder and Starrling glanced over at her from their maps anxiously awaiting her to finish her statement. "What's that Scully?" Starrling asked finally

"There is one more girl somewhere, "she announced after reading and reading the case files. "Or one more body we haven't found yet."

"Come again?" Mulder asked confused.

"When we interviewed the girls a week ago, they told us that sixteen girls showed up for the first meeting, not including Jordana, the leader." She was thoroughly enjoying this.

Scully watched as the two literally each did the simple math in their heads; they glanced over at Scully as deer caught in headlights. "And if this girl did not come with them, and Reessa and Frannie did not mention her then I am assuming they are protecting her for some reason."

The two agents exchanged wordless glances with one another, surprised that they had been shown up by the science geek. "You're right Scully." Mulder leapt for the phone as Starrling began to gather things together for the ride over to the safe house where the two girls were being baby sat.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The smug look on Scully's face spoke volumes, she had finally scored one on the geeks, and she was feeling pretty damn good as they parked in the lot of the safe house.

"Quit smiling Scully," Mulder whispered into her ear, as he placed his hand in the gentle small of her back. "You're giving me ideas…"

The girls jumped at the three entered the small apartment, the two agents on watch grinned fixedly at the trio, the three oddest agents in the Bureau, all in the same room it was too much. They excused themselves and went for a coffee run.

"We have a few more questions for you ladies." Mulder sat in the wooden chair opposite the two girls who had huddled up against each other.

"We told you all we know." Frannie's lip quivered as she spoke, reminding Scully of her nephew upon being busted with the cookie jar for the millionth time.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Starrling offered "Now you can tell us the rest of it." She had unconsciously began to advance towards the pair, which was all it took for Reesa to remember her introduction to Clarice Starrling's dark side.

"If I tell we are dead." Frannie blubbered.

"Tell anyway." Starrling clipped.

The two exchanged looks on the couch. Frannie mouthed something to Reesa that neither of the agents could catch, but the look of horror on their faces was unmistakable. The girl's faces twisted as if in some horrible gut wrenching pain from within. "She is with Him." Frannie uttered in a disturbingly sing song chanting sort of voice.

"She who?" Mulder asked coming in closer to examine the odd looks that had taken over the girls' faces.

"She who is, she who will always be." Reesa interjected in the same voice, a little too similar.

Mulder looked at Scully and then over to Starrling who looked ready to go for the throat again, a stiff head shake from Mulder stopped her from continuing in her plan.

Mulder realized the two girls were in some sort of state, self induced or otherwise he intended on getting out of them what he could. "Reesa, who is she?"

Reesa's eyes had noticeably gone form a shade of fawn brown to a bright blue, "She is us, she is who has lead us." Reesa's recently blue eyes began to tear. "She is the one that will lead us into the New Millennium."

Frannie had taken on a different color herself, her face had become an ashen hue of bronze and Mulder could swear she had a fire behind her eyes. "You are not to know, and you will never know until it has come to fruition.

Starrling briefly contemplated grabbing the two girls and introducing them to the wall here, but she knew Mulder well enough to know when he was working, and here this was his field of glory. "What in the Hell is going on here?" Starrling hissed to Scully instead. Scully offered her a hell if I know shrug and both women turned to watch the festivities unfold.

"We need to know where the other girl is, she could be in serious danger…" Mulder insisted

"The only danger," the girls sang together in a voice that did not seem to be human. "Is for humanity, when the time comes, She will rule on all tables." As the girls finished speaking, every door and window in the apartment opened and slammed shut simultaneously, Scully and Mulder jumped at the sound, and yet Starrling did not even flinch.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"That was different." Starrling mused from the back seat as she popped two Tylenol to kill the headache that was working its way across from one temple to the next.

Mulder turned from his position in the passenger seat to eye the woman. "You all right Starrling?" He asked with a boyish grin.

"Mulder, tell me again why this is an X-File?" she asked sarcastically.

"We need to find this other girl, there is something really freaky going on with this." Scully offered as she drove.

"Gee, ya think?" Mulder snipped humorously. "I know we have to go back and hit those web sites now that we know which one maybe we can find a list of names."

Scully flashed Mulder a quick look of sardonic glee. "Are we taking her to-"

"Yeah Scully, we have no choice."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Melvin Frohike get over here you man-stud and let me get a look at you." Clarice Starrling had a smile on her face that neither one of the agents would have believed she was capable of.

"Clarice Starrling, as I live and breathe what are you doing hanging around with these two? "He eyed Scully briefly before going on. "Scully, this is the only woman I'll leave you for."

Scully returned an exasperated look before turning to Langley to discuss the search.

"How do you two know each other?" Mulder asked his curiosity piqued.

The two glanced at each other still grinning. "Frohike was the biggest party animal on campus back at UVA." Starrling grinned. "And he held the record for the longest freshman year ever there."

Frohike smiled at Starrling, "Man, you are still hot…"

"Down Boy," Mulder warned.

Starrling ruffled what little hair was left on top of the man's head. "I see you never got those hair plugs you were saving for." She teased.

"I found out once you've had bald…"Frohike waggled his eyebrows at Starrling suggestively, which she dismissed with a humorous shake of her head. "I read about all that stuff with Evelda Drumgo, I'm sorry they are putting you through all of that. You know, I run a little publication here, if you want to get your side of things out in the open…"

"Sorry Frohike, but if I ever get abducted by aliens, or held over at Dreamland, trust me you will be the first call I make."

"Ah, so you are familiar with our work?" Frohike grinned again.

"I hate to break up this reunion," Scully called from the other room. "But I think we may have found something here."

Mulder stood over Scully's shoulder as they viewed the website and began to verify names with the list of victims. One name did not cross reference.

"It's her." Starrling breathed, gearing herself up for the hunt. There was no other info on the girl on the website, not even where she went to school like the others were listed. Starrling made a call to the Bureau and requested a search for every person in the fifty states matching the name and approximate age.

"So, we have to just wait until they have a list for us," Mulder blew impatiently, he was ready to get to the bottom of this case, the occult nature of it was more than just a little disconcerting. "Then we are going to have to go and do a search of each one in this area, and that's if she is still in the area."

"Or if she is still alive." Starrling interjected.

"I have a hunch..." He smiled over to Starrling as if to say he knew what a hunch was too. "That she is very much alive Starrling, and if anything I think she is the key to finding the bottom of this rabbit hole."

"We could divvy up the search, each take a few names and go down the list. "Scully offered from her seat in front of the computer.

"Hey Starrling," Frohike came around the corner into the computer room, carrying a plate piled high with something that wafted a heavenly odor. "I whipped up a batch of something in your honor." His face lit up as he watched her sniff the air impatiently.

"MMM, Frohike, what is that?" Scully asked grabbing for one of the delectables off of the platter.

"Buffalo Bill Wings. " He smiled offering them to Starrling. "They're skinned."

Scully frowned. "Ugh, Frohike that is in bad taste…"

"But they don't taste bad." Starrling smiled taking a second one. "You always were a good cook Melvin, especially omelets…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sorry about the delay on both stories, but i have been soo freaking busy lately and plus on top of school i am working full time, but bear with me the semster is almost over and then we can do this thing the right way! LOL

Hey all thanx for the reviewas and keep em coming i love to hear from the best readers in the world...and beyond LOL


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